high time

Language: en

Meaning: (uncountable,idiomatic)A point in time at which something is considered to beutterlydueor evenoverdueto occur; well past time.1729, John Norman,God's Foreknowledge of contingent Events vindicated, page27:"But it ishigh timefor me to have done with the argument, as it is to be judged of according to scripture evidence."1820,Sir Walter Scott, chapter 21, inThe Abbot:"I will await no longer," said Lindesay; "it ishigh timethe business were done."1851,Herman Melville, chapter 3, inMoby Dick:I thought it washigh time, now or never, before the light was put out, to break the spell in which I had so long been bound.1922,P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 22, inRight Ho, Jeeves:"But I haven't ridden for years.""Then it'shigh timeyou began again."2006May 9,Hassan Rohani, “Iran's Nuclear Program: The Way Out”, inTime:It ishigh timeto cease sensationalism and war mongering, pause and think twice about where we are heading.; (countable,idiomatic)A veryenjoyableorexcitingexperience or period of time.1912,L. Frank Baum, chapter 25, inSky Island:[T]here's going to be ahigh timein the Blue City tonight. We'll have music and dancing and eating.1916,Jack London, “When Alice Told Her Soul”, inOn the Makaloa Mat: Island Tales:For Alice had lived, from early in her girlhood, a life of flowers, and song, and wine, and dance. . . . And her tight tongue had served her well . . . . [N]one ever heard her gossip of the times of Kalakaua's boathouse, nor of thehigh timesof officers of visiting warships.2000Dec. 11,Richard Corliss, "Cinema: Better Than Tabloid Tattle" (film review ofProof of Life),Time:[T]he film intelligently deploys familiar thriller elements: chases; shoot-outs; high-level duplicity; terse, sassy dialogue; and a cast having ahigh timeplaying preening villains and wily good guys.

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